As Slade would say It’s Christmaaassssss!!! (well, nearly) and what better time to foist your idea of a good book on to someone who intends to read more in 2016 than they did in 2015.

Gift book ideas

Here are some ideas for last minute literary purchases that would make for exceedingly handsome gifts:

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics – Carlo Rovelli (translated by the poet Simon Carnel and Erica Segre)

This is such a pretty book – pocket-sized at less than 80 pages long; a black hard cover embossed with a rose gold universe swirling over front and back. Between that and the elegant, poetic translation you could almost overlook the fact that it’s concerned with really hard physics. I can’t say I understood it all, but I enjoyed having a go. Buy this for the cleverest person in your life. This one is going to my teenager.

Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century by John Higgs

Of course this is on my recommended list. Of course! It’s dedicated to both my children and I’m name-checked on page 333. But really it’s a great gift book for just about anybody because who doesn’t remember at least a bit of the 20th century? Or want to read about Putin fighting a kangaroo? Don’t take my incredibly biased word for it, check out the 5 star reviews and make your own mind up.

List of the Lost by Morrissey

It’s had absolutely terrible reviews and won the Bad Sex Award but I’m still very curious to read it. Buy this for the Eighties throwback in your life.

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia by Shigeru Miyamoto

What do you buy the kid who’s too busy gaming to read a decent book? A book about a video game, of course. That way everybody’s happy. This is the story of the Zelda series of games and has been my son’s required reading all year (in between gaming).

Pretty Honest: The Straight-Talking Beauty Companion by Sali Hughes

This was my Christmas reading present last year, except it was misprinted with an upside down cover, so it looked like I was reading it the wrong way round. Oh how the family laughed. Cheeky blighters. The short chapters make it more like reading a long series of magazine articles. Full of great tips, though you won’t agree with everything Sali says – as always, YMMV, though you will enjoy the trip.

I also did a bunch of children’s gift book recommendations for KidsBlogClub and the standout there was The Sherlock Holmes Book, a great mash-up of the Sherlock Holmes stories and the facts related to them